Trump's CIA nominee heads to Hill as confirmation appears likely

Gina Haspel is headed back to the Senate this week for meetings with still-undecided senators ahead of an expected committee vote Wednesday, as she appears increasingly likely to win confirmation to lead the CIA.

Haspel lined up support over the weekend from a second red-state Democrat facing reelection, Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, but she is trying to win public backing from a few more members of the minority party — a necessary step before her camp can breathe easily about confirmation by the full Senate.

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One swing vote, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), described herself as still undecided ahead of a Monday afternoon meeting with the spy agency veteran tapped by President Donald Trump to be its next director. Haspel already has won the support of two red-state Democrats, and a third,Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, described his stance as "kind of like right here" while aiming his hands directly in front of him, indicating he was undecided.

Jones told reporters he "should have a decision soon ... but I'm still doing my due diligence."

Haspel is expected to win approval from the Senate intelligence committee when her nomination comes to a vote, which a panel aide said is set to happen in a closed-door session on Wednesday. Haspel's corralling of support last week from two pivotal moderates on the committee, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), effectively locked in the backing she needs on the committee, even though its top Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, says he’s still unsure about her.

Warner and other Democrats remain concerned about Haspel's role in a CIA interrogation program that used tactics described as torture against detained terrorist suspects during the George W. Bush administration. During her confirmation hearing last week, Haspel declined to directly describe the interrogation program as immoral, though she said she wouldn’t restore the use of such tactics at the agency if confirmed.

Republican leaders remain confident that Haspel will win confirmation, even if Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) maintains his opposition, despite moving from critic to supporter of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month. Since the GOP can count on only 50 votes given the absence of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a vocal Haspel critic, the nomination needs public commitment from one of several still-undecided senators — including Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, Warner, and McCaskill — in order to guarantee a win.

Deputy press secretary Raj Shah said Trump is likely to address Haspel's nomination when he visits Senate Republicans at the Capitol on Tuesday.

"This is an individual who's had over three decades of exemplary service and experience with the CIA, and we hope that the Senate takes it upon themselves to confirm her," Shah said of Haspel Monday.

The meeting could be awkward though — the White House is in hot water for declining to issue any public apology after a communications aide said McCain's opposition to Haspel would prove less relevant because the senator is "dying anyway."

Among the Democrats still publicly uncommitted on Haspel, who would become the CIA's first woman director if confirmed, is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

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The New York Democrat said while attending a Monday event in his home state that he would comment soon on Haspel, with whom he met late last week. "I’m analyzing everything we talked about," Schumer told reporters.

While Haspel's confirmation remains less than a sure thing, liberal and civil rights groups fighting her confirmation over her role in the interrogation program aren't letting up their campaign to defeat her. A Florida chapter of the anti-Trump activist group Indivisible recently staged a local demonstration aimed at their state's undecided Democrat, Sen. Bill Nelson, and other members of the group are continuing to lean on Flake.

Other activists focused their ire on the intelligence panel's decision to hold the Haspel vote in private.

"Voting in secret without enough information on Gina Haspel’s involvement in torture and no clarity on her views is an abdication of the Senate’s constitutional role of advice and consent," said Christopher Anders, Washington deputy director of the ACLU. He added in a statement that grassroots activists "will never forget our representatives’ commitment or betrayal to democratic values this November.”